Dumbledore History / General World Musings

[Heather Moore]

No: HPFGUIDX 29680

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Brett,Rob,Tan" <usedciscos at b...> wrote:


 
> -Also- .. In the second book, Dumbledore is there in Tom Riddle's 
> memories, but I don't think it mentions which house he's in there. I 
> have just been told by Brett and Tan, however, that it does, and it 
> is Gryffindor, so I'll go back and sit in my corner again 8-)
> 
> --Rob  


 Wasn't Dumbledore in Tom's memories **because he was the Transfiguration teacher at the time Tom was in school?** We know he wasn't a student when Tom was. Was he the Head of Gryffendor House at that time? (Was Minerva MacGonagall in school with Tom? Or was she with the Weasleys?)  



I've been thinking hard about the Potterverse. I understand completely that the world of the protagonists is the supreme interest in all fiction. In the absence of developed Compendiums or Worldbooks  such as JKR's two charity one-offs, the greater context of the story is only developed in canon as far as the protagonists are involved and knowledgeable. 

Are we to assume that Britain is THE CENTER OF THE WORLD as well as the primary wizarding superpower for the Potterverse?

Either way, is the Ministry of Magic a One World Government which is located in Britain but authoritative for all wizard communities everywhere? Do other countries have their own Ministries? Are they full peers of Britain's Ministry? Do wizards acknowledge and organize themselves into countries similar to the familiar ones of the Muggle world, or are their boundaries extremely different?  

Do the Weasleys or other pure-bloods have legal identities in the Muggle World? Do Harry and/or Hermione (I can't see how it is avoided in Hermione's case)? How do muggle-borns and half-borns manage to avoid taxes and jury duty?

Can we assume that the wizarding world mirrors the real world in more than just the Quidditch/Quodpot schtick? For example, are Chinese and Asian wizards less concerned with secrecy the further away they live from government centers, even if they live in mixed communities? Does American wizarding culture by-and-large pride itself on being more "modern"? Do Japanese wizards use lots of magical computers and gee-whiz gadgets? (Are little girl wizards in Japan fawned over and considered especially cute?) Are the disciplines taught in Asian schools different than the disciplines taught in European schools?  

Are Asian, African, Australian, American, and South American wizards political isolationists? Is there some formal or informal United Wizarding Nations?  

Are the primary categories and traditions of wizard employment roughly the same everywhere? 

Is "auror" mostly a European term and concept, or is it a world-culture term? Do aurors have extradition powers in other regions? Are there areas where the local wizard culture refuses to validate the powers of "outsider" aurors? Are aurors regulated by their own countries, or some United Central Magickal Authority?

Just how farspread is the threat Voldemort poses? Were/Are the Death Eaters mostly British simply because that was where he based his operations? Was his intent, honestly, to destroy all muggles worldwide, or did he mostly care about his primary sphere of influence (the magickal world of the European subcontinent)? How multicultural was the resistance? How much organization and political supremacy can we ascribe for Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and their supporters? 
   
Discuss! I'm primarily interested in discussing this all from a canon perspective - both solid evidence (including as collected and presented on Steve's Lexicon site) and "fanon" theories *about canon* derived from canon clues.  

Old-Timers, provide pointers to messages here on in the HPfGu-Archives if this stuff has been chewed over in the past.  

Uhm.... go!

 -- Heather